As beautiful of a city it is and as much as I love speaking Spanish, the transition to living in Santiago de Chile has been rough for me. I went from volunteering on a farm in rural Bolivia - to living and navigating a city of 7 million people in Chile, a country with an average income triple that of Bolivia. Taking the Metro, navigating the bus system, and just being immersed in the energy of 7 million human beings has been like constantly leaning on the accelerator pedal: feeling constantly drained. After a month it's definitely getting better, thanks to wonderful friends, host family, and my parents taking my calls with their never-ending patience and love. Here's to becoming a big city fish sooner than later...

film. taken from Santa Lucia hill in the middle of the city. beautiful.

I live with my chilean host family in one of many apartment buildings with a large central park area where families and groups of school kids gather to talk

Skyline of Santiago's business district, affectionately known as "Sanhatten"

Flowers Outside the Bellas Artes metro stop // nature and concrete

Manquehue metro stop // steel and light

Gustock music festival raising money for the public park // good music and even better veggie pesto ravioli